Traditions, always erroneous in their circumstances, are yet rarely
devoid of foundation; and though the pedigrees of Radcliffe exhibit no
failure of the family by the premature death of an heiress; though the
last Richard de Radcliffe, who had daughters only, certainly did not
make 'a scullion-boy the heir of all his land,' when he settled it on
Radcliffe Baron Fitzwalter; though the blood actually pointed out on the
kitchen floor, where this Thyestsean banquet is said to have been
prepared, deserves no more regard than many other stories and
appearances of the same kind; yet we are not to discard as incredible
the tradition of a barbarous age, merely because it asserts the
sacrifice of a young and beautiful heiress to the jealousy or the
avarice of a stepmother. When this is granted, the story of the pie with
all its horrors may safely be ascribed to the inventive genius of a
minstrel. On the whole, Radcliffe is a place which, not only from its
antiquity and splendour, but from the great families which have branched
out from it, and the romantic tradition attached to it, can scarcely be
surveyed without enthusiasm, or quitted without regret.
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